Compare Largent to WRs of his era, and Owens to WRs of his era. Let’s exclude Rice for both, since, y’know, Rice.

Largent broke records that had stood for 40+ years. He began his career when mauling the WR was not only allowed, but expected, and finished it where it was still much more allowed than it is today. Largent had maybe 3 years with a top-ten QB on his roster; Owens had Steve Young, McNabb (who I think is over-rated, but is a stat machine), and Romo. Largent had maybe 4 years with a top-tier defense; Owens had maybe 4 years without one. Largent *never* had another WR on his side. Owens… had Rice for a while, and had some talent beside him in Dallas. Largent had 3 years with a moderate-or-better RB to take pressure off. Owens consistently had top RB talent with him.

When you compare them to other WRs of their eras, Largent was clearly better than Owens– and he did it with far, far worse teams supporting him. I cannot think of any player, with the exception of Barry Sanders, who performed at the level that Largent did with the absolute lack of talent and coaching around him. And until Rice erupted on the scene, Largent was the undisputed best WR in the game.

It’s somewhat difficult to compare players from different eras, but I’m pretty darned confident in putting Largent as historically better than Owens with all of that in mind.

In my opinion, Rice, Moss, and certainly Fitz are all better than TO. But Fitz is still playing. So, he’s out. TO at his best was scary good. And very deserving to be the conversation of “among the best”. He’s a head case though. And truth be told, if he hadn’t been, it’s possible he would’ve blended in to the background quicker than he should have. I’m still holding out hope that he shows up in the most TO way, does the most TO thing ever, and steals the show.

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By: Mr. Bad Example http://www.thedrawplay.com/comic/terrell-owens-finally-gets-in-the-hall-of-fame/#comment-260779
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 21:06:26 +0000http://www.thedrawplay.com/?post_type=comic&p=5106#comment-260779[player name] 100% belongs in the [sport] hall of fame. I’m glad he made it. He’s unquestionably one of the greatest [sport] players in history. I really don’t think that can be disputed, even by his haters. [player name] could play some goddamn ball. But man he is such a turd.

there, now it’s a blanket statement for any controversial player to get elected in the future (A-Rod, Manny being Manny, Ray Rice, Johnny Manziel… ok, just kidding on that last one)

TO isn’t even the fourth best WR of all time. He’s very arguably not even in the top 5.

Rice, Hutson, Alworth, and Largent have very definite claims above Owens. Moss is pretty unarguably the better talent with a worse work ethic; their other “issues” are pretty much a toss-up. Calvin Johnon arguably had more talent, but a much shorter career. Fitzgerald has a better work ethic, and is a better teammate, but is probably an inferior talent. So take those last four, and mix them up in whatever order you want for the #5-8 slot, and Owens is somewhere in there. If you’re going by most talented, I think it goes Rice, Hutson, Moss, Megatron, Alworth, Largent, Owens. If you’re going by careers (and adjust for limitations of time and teams), Rice > Hutson > Moss > Alworth = Largent, Owens > Fitz > Megatron.

But there’s pretty much no metric out there by which Owens unseats Hutson or Rice, and I can think of none that allow him any higher than #5 without ignoring time/rules/teammates issues.